ELMORE – Pears dropped with a distinct plunk as David Fried ambled through a varied crop of fruit and nut trees. Kiwi vines, black walnut trees, and hazelberts lined the path.

Squirrels hoard the nuts, and deer eat the drops, but Fried, 56, isn't easily goaded. "For us it's something we like, but for them it's survival," he said.

His 18 acres, once an abandoned hay field, is now an abundant Eden in Elmore. After being told only apples could grow this far north, Fried has discovered, over three decades of experimenting, what is possible for Vermont.

His Elmore Roots Nursery has sold about 50,000 fruit and nut trees since he opened for business in 1979.

These trees also protect Vermont's changing landscape in the face of extreme weather patterns. One tree in particular, the Hazelbert, saved one farm during Tropical Storm Irene three years ago.

Vermont hazelnut trees are called Hazelberts, created by Fred Ashworth who was a fruit explorer in upstate New York in the 1800s. "He crossed a European filbert with an American hazelnut," Fried said. "We carry on that lineage of his trees."

A line of Hazelberts on the edge of the Lamoille River saved Willow Crossing Farm in Johnson from heavy damage during Irene and the flooding that preceded that storm. "The trees caught four feet of flotsam," owner Keith Morris said. "Hazelberts bend and slow the water, then they bounce right back."

Morris, 36, also owns Prospect Rock Permaculture, a landscape design and build firm that helps people plant protective infrastructure into their homesteads. Morris is on a mission to see more nut trees as shelter belts around vegetation, as wind breaks, animal fencing, and on river's edges across the state.

Willow Crossing's Morris started collecting nut trees in 2000, and Morris experiments with about 3,000 species now. The Hazelbert is the most exciting, he said. "There is a huge market for it," he said. "Nutella is a great example."

Nutella is a sweet spread made from hazelnuts that has replaced peanut butter in many homes across the nation recently.

Hazelberts produce nuts within a few years of being planted as opposed to other nut trees that generally take about 10 to 15 years to produce, Morris said.

While Nutella is a fairly new item in Vermont kitchens, the butternut pie is a long-standing tradition. "Butternut trees have a dear place in my heart, on my farm, and in the entire state for that matter," Morris said. "Butternuts were a staple crop for most homesteads here for generations."

Now Butternut trees are endangered. There is a fungal blight in the state. "The outlook isn't good," Morris said. "We are working with the state, and with some hybrid trees that are blight resistant."

Shelburne Farms Head Market Gardener, Josh Carter, has been growing Hazleberts in Shelburne for three years. "We're thinking our Hazleberts will start producing enough nuts to sell to the Inn next year," he said.

The Hazleberts were planted to add interesting, non-traditional crops that fit with the farm's educational mission. "Since we run a farm-to-table restaurant on site we diversity our market garden operation as much of possible for greatest variety in the menu," Carter said.

Nut farming is not economically viable, Carter said. "We don't grow many nuts around here in the Northeast," he said.

Growing nuts is similar to growing hops for beer, Carter said. "People like the idea of growing local hops for local breweries, but there's a lot of infrastructure involved for starting up and brewing for this refined and processed product to make it viable."

Carter admits he doesn't have a passion for growing nuts, in particular, but does have a passion for trying different crops and learning as he goes.

Five years from now, everyone might want Hazleberts, Carter said. "It's always nice to be ahead of the curve," he said. "We're building a pool of knowledge to cash in on in the future."

Morris said he doesn't think Vermont will ever have a competitive advantage with nut growing, but nut trees are important to the state's landscape. "With more growers on board, it makes sense to look into nut butters and oils," he said. "Hazelnut oil from Europe is a very valuable high quality commodity."

Morris is also working on a hybrid pecan and hickory tree called a hickan tree. "People say pecans won't grow in Vermont, but they do," he said.

It might take 15 years to see nuts grow on a hickan tree, but there will be 500 years of nut harvesting after that, with no tilling, weeding, or seeding.

"I hope my work will build a legacy, so that generations of Vermonters to come might have plenty of pecans," Morris said.

Contact Lynn Monty at LynnMonty@FreePressMedia.com and follow her on Twitter at www.twitter.com/VermontSongbird.